Through The Fire And Flames
by Shino Arashi 2601
Summary: Rockstar!Shinjiro AU fic in which Shinji is in a band with Minato and Junpei and Akihiko is a boxer. This is not a ShinjiroXAkihiko fic! Please feel free to leave comments on what I can do to improve my writing in the future!


He only heard the sound of the drums and the wild screaming of the crowd; chanting his name over and over again "SHINJIRO! SHINJIRO! SHINJIRO!" it was as if the whole world was already on a first name basis with him. His steel coloured eyes scanned the crowd, desperately searching for the other male he knew wouldn't be there, he never came to his performances at the club; his boxing matches were on at the same time. However, Shinji always scanned the crowd looking for him, his band mates noticed him standing there with his guitar in hand, a frown on his face, and asked him if he was alright. Well, Minato did at least; the others were busy shouting out nonsense at the audience (mostly asking them if they were having a good time). Shinjiro gave a small smile in response, doing nothing to convince Minato but it shut him up for the time being.

"What song do you guys want?" Minato shouted to the crowd, making them all start chanting his name instead of Shinji's. "We'll sing Through The Fire And Flames then!"  
Junpei started on the drums, Minato preparing to start singing for the beginning of the song before it was finally Shinji's turn to start playing his electric guitar. Shinjiro blocked out all the sound from the crowd, his fingers played the chords automatically as if on instinct and as Minato's singing reached the chorus, he prepared himself for the guitar solo he had that he could not mess up or Minato would tear him apart and Junpei would never let him hear the end of it. As it got closer and closer to his solo he started blocking out the rest of the band instrument by instrument. Until it was just him and his guitar, he imagined his childhood friend Akihiko standing in front of him, grinning at him and cheering him on, and felt a surge of confidence as he finished his solo; eliciting screams from the crowd and cheering from Junpei as well.

As if on instinct, his eyes glanced at the clock, widening as he remembered Aki's words earlier that evening before he headed out to his boxing match.  
"It's the state finals tonight, I can't wait! They start at 10, it uh… it'd be nice if you could come Shinji… but, you have your band thing so… that's okay…. I guess…" he had said before slinging his jacket over his shoulder and enveloping Shinjiro in a rib-crushing hug. Panicking slightly at the clock showing the time as already 9:45, he rushed over to Minato and passed him his guitar.  
"Minato, I gotta go see Aki's boxing match. I uh, promised him I would go watch and I'm gonna be late if I don't go now." He whispered, Minato turned to him and glared with his one grey eye showing, the other hidden by his long fringe.  
"Ugh, fine. You owe me one though since I'm gonna have to play your guitar parts." Minato replied, his face emotionless as always as he took the guitar and turned back to the crowd, "What are you still standing here for Shinji? Go!"

As he ran down the street from the club, all the way to the boxing stadium 3 streets away, his mind was filled with thoughts of Akihiko, wondering if his match was over already or not. As he burst in to the stadium, he was grabbed by armed guards in black suits and was being dragged back outside.  
"The finals have already started sir, you are disrupting them." They said in monotone voices as Shinjiro struggled to break free. He looked desperately for Akihiko and saw him about to enter the ring. He was scanning the audience for someone, as he looked towards the entrance where Shinji was, his eyes widened and a grin began to grow on his face…. That is, until he saw the guards dragging him outside.  
"Hey! Wait! LET HIM WATCH! HE'S MY BEST FRIEND! WHY ARE YOU DRAGGING HIM AWAY!" he yelled out, causing all eyes in the stadium to turn to Shinji and the guards. Almost sheepishly, the guards let go and walked back to their posts by the door as Shinjiro walked towards the seats closest to the ring and sat down on the ground when he discovered that they had all been taken. He heard the snickering and whispering behind his back but he didn't care, Aki's smile when he had seen him made it all worth it.  
"Thanks for coming Shinji!" he said as he turned around to face his opponent just as the bell rang to signal the start of the match.

After the match, when the two of them were walking back to their dorm, Shinji had one hand in his pocket and the other hand was holding Akihiko's protein shake that he was supposed to be drinking. Instead, he was jumping up and down excitedly next to his childhood best friend, talking rapidly about the boxing match.  
"I can't believe I won! I WON SHINJI! I WON! THE STATE FINALS!" Akihiko cried; eyes wide and grin even wider. He talked on and on all the way back to the dorm with Shinji only half listening, occasionally nodding and humming to show that he understood.  
"It was so cool Shinji! The adrenaline! It was like…. Like… it was like I was surrounded by fire and shit like that. It was amazing! Like I was fighting through the fire and flames!" Akihiko said while fist pumping towards the sky, that last line caught Shinji's attention and he stopped walking and turned around slowly to face Aki.  
"Through the fire and flames huh?" he asked, "Hmm, must be just a coincidence that that was the first song we played today at the club…" if Akihiko heard him, he certainly didn't show it, he was caught up in his memories of the fight and Shinjiro was caught up in his own thoughts.  
"And… and, you know when I threw that left hook that knocked that dude to the ground? That felt AWESOME! Didja see that Shinji!? Shinji!? SHINJI!?"  
"Yeah, I did see it Aki." Shinjiro replied, snapping out of his thoughts. "You were awesome, congrats on the win."

**[A/N Didja see that Ray? I finished my first Persona fic ever! Haha, feel free to leave me comments on what I could improve on in the future!]**


End file.
